CRYSTAL CASTLES vs. HEALTH

MY BLOODY VALENTINE
TO HERE KNOWS WHEN
(Live at Fuji Rock Festival)

My Bloody Valentine play Ricoh Coliseum on September 25th. Tickets are available here and here.

RANDOM STUFF:

- Went to The Ex last night with the gang, super fun as usual. Just nice to spend the night out, enjoying the fall-like weather and taking in the sights/sounds. Took a bunch of pictures with my iPhone, they turned out amazing. Check this one:

- Red Bull are throwing a small tour this fall titles “The Big Bang” (like their Toronto festival Red Bull Academy last fall) featuring Chromeo, Calvin Harris, Jamie Lidell, Dirty South and Trouble Andrew. Dates are as follows:

October 9th - Muzik, Toronto, Ontario
October 10th - L’Olympia, Montreal, Quebec
October 12th - Commodore, Vancouver, British Columbia

- Digitalism play The Social on September 10th
- Plants and Animals are at the Horseshoe September 18th tix
- Dark Meat play the Drake on September 25th.
- Miss Kittin and the Hacker play Randomland at Circa on September 26th
- The Virgins are opening for Black Kids at The Mod Club on October 5th
- Crystal Castles play Randomland at Circa on October 24th
- Soulwax are back in Toronto (after their headlining set at AD/D’s Sunnyside festival) on October 25th at The Opera House
- The Acorn and Ohbijou are at Lee’s Palace on November 27th tix

- Listen to a new track titled Dancing Choose here from TV On The Radio’s forthcoming album Dear Science, which is due out September 23rd.
- T.O Blog has done a “The Best Roti in Toronto”, read their picks here. I suggest Bacchus, its my favourite.

MORNING STUFF:

- Pitchfork reviews Bloc Party’s Intimacy. I whole-heartedly do not agree.

- Stereogum has a link to T.I’s new single Swagger Like Us, which samples M.I.A’s Paper Planes

- For The Records has the scoop on all the Toronto-area Frosh week concerts (and how to crash them), Tokyo Police Club/Cadence Weapon/Basia Bulat headline U of T’s on September 5th between 4:30pm and 7:30pm on the back campus, Stars headline Yorkfest September 16th/17th, and Bloc Party are rumoured to be headlining Ryerson’s frosh party on the island (unlikely).

WANT TO SEE CRYSTAL CASTLES FOR FREE??

Apparently Crystal Castles are playing a free show for Vice Magazine for their annual TIFF Festival Ball on Thursday September 4th at Hart House. RSVP to festivalball@viceland.com to be put on the list. Oh, and show up early to get in.

Showtimes/support TBA.

UPDATE: Via Stillepost:

Crystal Castles
iNiDEaMIND
I Am Robot and Proud

Doors at 8pm/19+

Also rumored that The Juan McLean are also playing the main room.

Radiohead at the Molson Ampitheatre

RADIOHEAD w GRIZZLY BEAR
Molson Ampitheatre
Friday August 15, 2008

Oh rain, why have you made an appearance at every outdoor show I have attended this summer? First you turned Rogers Picnic into a huge mud pit, putting a damper on shiny, summery sets by Chromeo and Vampire Weekend. And then last night, you reeked havoc on the masses of people vying for the perfect spot on the lawn (err…another mud pit) at the Ampitheatre for Radiohead’s stop in Toronto in support of In Rainbows. But you did create breathtaking rainbows which hovered over the venue, trying to get a glimpse of the Oxford 5.

Arrived at the venue at the height of the downpour, but was lucky because we had really good seats in the 200’s, meaning no rain for us. Caught the tail end of Grizzly Bear’s set, they played Knife, but their sound was a bit lost in the large, cavernous venue. They looked soo small on the stage. The change over between bands went really quick and at 8:45pm the house lights went down and Radiohead began their set.

I have to admit, I’m not the hugest fan of their last two albums (Hail To The Thief and In Rainbows), I like about 3 or 4 tracks off each album. I miss their more electronic stuff (circa Kid A). They opened with 15 Step, one of the songs off IR that I love. Thom did his little jig, it was endearing. Their setlist heavily pulled from the last two albums but they sprinkled in a couple old tracks into the mix such as Climbing Up The Walls, Paranoid Android, Planet Telex (shocking!) and my favourite Talk Show Host. Setlist was as follows:

15 Step
Reckoner
Optimistic
There There
Morning Bell
All I Need
Pyramid Song
Arpeggi
The Gloaming
A Wolf At The Door
Faust Arp
No Surprises
Jigsaw Falling Into Place
Idioteque
Climbing Up The Walls
Nude
Bodysnatcher
—
Like Spinning Plates
Videotape
Airbag
Talk Show Host
Street Spirit
—
House Of Cards
Planet Telex
Everything In Its Right Place

As mentioned by pretty much every blogger/reviewer that has seen the band on this tour, Radiohead’s light show was incredible, there were multiple LED tubes hanging from the rafters that pulsed to the music and created an atmospheric coloured hue over the band. Behind the band was a huge bank of television screens that broadcast up close images of the band playing. Overall, a great show, I honestly don’t think the band will ever top their performance at Molson Park back on the Amnesiac tour, but still a great night.

Update: Frank over at Chromewaves was in the photo pit, check out his pictures here. Amazing.

BOWERBIRDS
In Our Talons

Mark turned me onto Bowerbirds over a year ago, and I’m still in love with this album.
The video is pretty amazing too.

THE PRESETS
TALK LIKE THAT

The Presets support Cut Copy at Sound Academy on Friday September 19th. Tickets on sale here.